Product Launch and Business Growth Blog » social media

Social Media Marketing Experts Reveal Secrets for Generating a Steady Stream of Sales & Leads

Rick Braddy — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 22:30:39 +0000

Join 8 of the World’s Top Social Media Marketing Experts as They Reveal Their Secrets for Generating a Steady Stream of New Sales & Leads

This one-time special teleseminar hosted by MarketingForSuccess will not be repeated and there’s limited seating available (less than 196 seats left, so don’t delay if you’re interested).

Hope to see you there (I wouldn’t miss this – will you?)

Best,

Rick

Social Media for Business Is CRAP. Really?

Rick Braddy — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:22:05 +0000

I ran across a very interesting post on LinkedIn this past weekend entitled “Social Media for Business is CRAP“. At the time of this writing, there are 1,256 comments, so clearly this post struck a nerve. Here’s the original post, plus a few excerpts of the comments below representing several points of view…

What do you think? Is Social Media for Business Really Crap?

Original post: Social Media for Business is CRAP!

OK, I finally said it publicly, Social Media for business is Crap!

Maybe because my feeling for the hyped-up benefits of social media was recently confirmed by a top millionaire online guru. If you follow the most successful gurus his name is always at the top of the list. As a matter of fact, he was the first online entrepreneur to make a MILLION $ in a day. That said, recently he published a PDF where he said “I think social media Su-ks”. When I read that I felt a sigh of relief, “maybe I am not off the tracks after all”. You see when you don’t “follow the pack” you tend to sometimes feel like you are going down the wrong path or at least missing an opportunity.

Now, I must admit I use all the major social media outlets including Twitter, Facebook, Squidoo, etc, etc. However, not for direct marketing. And, even though I publish new product releases on Twitter, analytics tells me no convertible traffic comes from that source or Facebook. My primary use of social sites is for building backlinks, but that is for SEO purposes. And, of course the added exposure. i.e. “branding” doesn’t hurt.

However, I never felt like any of the exposure or traffic was ever really serious “convertible traffic”. In other words social media is used for entertainment and communication, ahh, socializing. “Socializing” people are not in the “consumer mode” when they are cruising the social sites. They are looking for friends, maybe a date, etc. Proof of this observation is that these social sites still cannot monetize themselves via paid advertising to nearly the level of search engines like Google or Yahoo. Why? Because you really cannot target potential consumers when they are out at their “buying behavior mode”, i.e. when they are specifically looking to buy a product or service. To try and pull social surfers out of the “social mode” and into a “buying mode” requires many steps before a behavioral shift is realized.

Sure, you can start a dialogue and maybe down the road they will recall your business, but the effort to generate business is much more ROI effective using PPC or SEO. The one bright spot for social media as a business tool may be list building, but my own results have been mixed (via measuring quality of opt ins).

And yes, I have read the eMarketer predictions that social ad spend will increase by about 400% by 2013. But, these same groups are also publishing reports like today’s “Does Social Media Work for Small Biz?” where 88% of all small business owners say social media is not helpful to their business. Proof that most of us are not yet seeing the tangible benefits, i..e., sales, leads, etc, from our social media profiles. Personally I am not even seeing much return on creating and maintaining groups within the social media outlets. And, one of the most raved about tools within social media is creating specialized groups.

So, at the moment using social sites for business generation, in my opinion is still highly overrated. As an owner of several e-commerce business I don’t see myself investing advertising dollars in social media any time soon. And, even though there are those that will disagree, I don’t think many of them can show you their own e-commerce business that has experienced any serious ROI using social media. If anyone can show me any REAL results otherwise, please I am all ears. But please Hold the HYPE.

Selected response excerpts:

I think your post is a bit strong (and a bit fun!), but I get a bit frustrated as well. What I find most objectionable:

1. Very few Social Network people actually know much about social networks
2. Even less know anything outside of social networks.

Which, I guess means that a lot of social media people don’t seem to know much at all!

However, I don’t think that it’s wise to write social media off just because barriers to entry are low and therefore it attracts a lot of low grade people. There are also some very smart people active with social networking.

Moreover, it’s important to remember that much of the “New Economy” hype was actually true despite the incompetence of some of the people hyping it.

I think social media has a long way to go before it can provide any real value in the business to consumer realm. Where I find the most value in participating in social networks is staying connected with other business professionals and generating a relationship where referrals and quality leads can be passed.

I agree with you Kevin, but to say that Social Media sucks for business is a typical marketing slogan that is not 100% true. I have by being active in my blog, Linkedin and yes even Facebook gained a lot of business. Its an excellent tool to spread comunication messages. Ok, it will never be a conversion generating tool such as SEM but why say that it sucks for business? Kevin, thanks for your article. In general I liked it and you have got good points in what you are saying. If you have your way to Barcelona you are all welcome to visit us!!!

Great points from everyone! Social media was never designed to sell, it IS a social atmosphere. That being said, many of us are influenced to make buying and even major purchase decisions based off conversations we have with our friends and sphere of influence.

Social media is still in its infancy stage, and both ‘experts’ and businesses alike are trying to grasp consumers understanding. It will be interesting to watch things unfold the next few years here.

Does social media sell? Again, not really, but it influences. Do you want your competition influencing your prospects? Probably not, so you need to have representation in these social arenas.

One of my biggest ‘conversions’ from social media is speaking engagements – I get at least one new one quarterly. When I speak, I sell something, so there can be dollars equated back.

In addition, prospects will do business with people they ‘like’ if all product / service factors are equal. Why not connect with them socially so you have the ‘x’ factor?

You’re dead on right. I’ve felt that same thing. Social media is, as you said, for being social. People are NOT in a buying mode. But it’s not to scrap. It certainly does build relationships and your brand, but as you said, don’t expect to make a living off 2.0 It may change, but best now to work more profitable avenues.

Social media will definitely help your company increase your brand and product visibility thus increase traffic to your website and then create awareness that your company exists. It is an advertising medium that is free to everyone so what’s the hold back of using it? All of us are trying to sell something to someone but we’re not selling the same thing, right? So that’s why networking will always play a critical role in everyday business. Someone would need white and then I would need blue, you know what I mean.

I have never seen so many intelligent people miss the point. Social Media is not for selling your product. It is not a sales tool per say, it is a means of communication about who you are, what your company respresents and how you can be of service or help. If you approach social media with the idea that you are going to make yourself available to help other people, then you will reap the benifits it has to offer. Comcast comes to mind. They have a Twitter account that was started to give people a place to ask questions about their cable problems. and has turned into one of the most active sites for Comcast to the point where they have a starff of people monitoring the site to answere questjions for their customers. What a way to get your brand, your name and your company noticed by millions of people. Social Media is a matter of attitude. Lookat it as how can I help and you will see a benefit.

Alot of people are skeptical about social media, and many people are hesitant to get involved because of the uncertainly on ROI….but as Rick mentioned, social media is in its infancy and has yet to reveal its full potential in e-biz. There are many examples of successful social media campaigns, especially those translating into increased sales and unbranded awareness.

For example, “Share Your Oops”.ca was a user-generated site created by Palladin for women to share their risky sexual behaviours that could get them pregnant by accident. Palladin was advertising for their product Plan B, otherwise known as the “morning after pill”.

In simply 6 months, there were over 7 thousand user-generated posts, increased sales by 19%, increased unbranded awareness by 59%, and 28% of the visitors of “share your oops.ca” also clicked to visit the product page.

It comes to show that social media DOES work, at least for companies that have clear guidelines on how to approach the social media realm. With that said, it must be emphasized that setting up social media for business is not always an easy thing to do. There are many factors relating to content control and maintenance that need to be addressed.

To me, social media is just like any other marketing tactic. Some succeed, others fail. It only depends whether or not companies are willing to take the risk.

You can read the original post and comment stream here.

So, what do you think? Is Social Media for Business Really Crap?

Why Safety is Risky Business in 2010

Rick Braddy — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:47:59 +0000

Safety is the Riskiest Marketing Strategy in 2010

Those who dare to be remarkable and get noticed will win in 2010. Those who play it safe will lose.

Why? Because everyone is attention deficit today – with too little time available and too much competing for what time is available. There’s simply so much noise all around us, we’ve been forced to filter most everything out in order to get anything done.

It used to be that all you had to do was find a market need, develop a great product and advertise it to your target market. That’s the safe strategy – and it no longer works in 2010 (and it didn’t work in 2009 either). There’s simply too much noise for broadcast signals to penetrate.

Today, you need a Big Idea that’s so extremely remarkable that it actually feels risky to use in order to get noticed…

Marketing Signal-to-Noise

When I was 12 years old, I got my amateur radio license and first learned about the concept of the “signal-to-noise ratio”, which applies here. Signal-to-noise ratio is defined as the ratio of a signal’s power to the noise power corrupting that signal. A ratio higher than 1:1 indicates more signal than noise.

In less technical terms, signal-to-noise ratio compares the level of a desired signal (such as your marketing message ) to the level of background noise. The higher the ratio, the less obtrusive the background noise is and more likely your signal will get through.

In the past, we could simply turn up the signal level to break through the noise by running more ads, sending more emails, saturating the market with our message. And as everyone became more efficient at this, the noise became unbearable, so people found ways to “tune out”, treating virtually everything as noise because it’s simply too much.

Break Through by being Extremely Remarkable

To break through today actually requires a completely different strategy – you must be “extremely remarkable”. When you are extremely remarkable, what you have to say rises above the noise and gets noticed, because it gets passed onto people directly from others they know, listen to and trust.

Seth Godin talked about the need to be remarkable to get noticed. Today, you must go a step further. You must be extremely remarkable. Instead of a single Purple Cow standing in the field, you need a small herd of Purple Cows – and some of them need to break through the fence and graze by the roadside – then you will get noticed.

In a world where everyone knows they must stand out, you must become more extreme about your differentiation – and when you do this, it will feel very risky – hence, the title of this post.

And being extreme isn’t the only qualification. Your extremeness must resonate – with your target audience.

So what does it mean to “resonate”? The word “resonate” means to “strike a chord; to relate harmoniously”. When something resonates, it strikes a perfect balance within the mind of the audience, if just for a moment.

This doesn’t mean we need to go crazy with everything we do – far from it. But on the “front-end” of our marketing and advertising, we must become extreme in order to break through the noise, get noticed and heard, then have our message passed along (because it’s extremely remarkable).

And as Seth Godin points out, extremes are as far from the center as possible. They’re “edgy” and way out there. Remarkability lies in the edges: biggest, fastest, slowest, richest, easiest, most difficult. Your goal isn’t to please everyone – it’s to please those who notice and spread ideas.

Here’s a video from 2003 that still does a great job explaining how to be remarkable in 2010:

Stand Out or Stand Down

In 2010, you need a Big Idea that’s extremely remarkable. When you have a big idea that’s extremely remarkable and different, it provides enough weight to break through the signal-to-noise barriers and get repeated – by email, on Twitter, on Facebook, in the blogosphere and by word of mouth.

Delight, Surprise and Amaze

Nobody talks about having their needs met anymore. Do you tell people how great your daily commute was? Of course not. It’s boring. It’s painful. And it’s normal. How about your favorite toothpaste? How about what you had for dinner last night?

Do you tell people about the latest movie you watched and how much you liked it? Of course you do. It’s interesting. It’s pleasurable. And it’s remarkable. How about your favorite TV show? What browser you prefer to use?

The movie Avatar is breaking all kinds of movie records right now. Why? Because it’s extremely remarkable – much more so than any other recent movie we’ve seen. And it keeps getting talked about (this is a case in point), which creates the social proof for it to garner more adoption – not only by the mainstream movie goers, but also by many of the movie laggards (who usually just wait for movies to come out on DVD and NetFlix).

Does Your Marketing Feel Safe or Risky?

As David Meerman Scott is fond of saying, it’s time to “Lose Control of our Marketing“. Find a Big Idea that’s extremely remarkable and resonates and you’re message will take off and surf its way to success riding the social network waves. Don’t be afraid to let go and take that risk.

Unfortunately, many marketing departments want control of all aspects of the company’s messaging – and they see blogs and Twitter as undermining that control. It’s amazing, but that sentiment actually still exists here in 2010 at some companies! (yes, I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true).

Turn your employees loose and encourage them to blog, to Tweet and create YouTube videos. And don’t ask your marketing department to review and approve them. Let your marketing get out of control…

Encourage people to take more risks – to become edgy and stop worrying about what people might think. And consider using multiple edgy messages that appeal to different groups of buyers – not a single, watered-down message intended for everyone (that resonates with nobody).

And if employees do somehow “go too far”, don’t smack them down for it…because everyone must learn how far is far enough to be on the edge without falling in.

People are afraid of losing their jobs today, because they’re not sure they could find another one right now. This fear doesn’t help you become edgier with your marketing. Give people the “safety net” of knowing that unless they post something vulgar or repulsive, they can’t go too far.

And if they do somehow go too far, be explicit that the worst that will happen is they’ll be asked to delete the offending post, learn from it and keep on going faster than ever…

That’s how you can get breakthrough performance, not just in your marketing, but in your business in general – remove the perceived risks and make it safe for people to take calculated risks right now.

Here’s a true story and example of what I mean. When I was with CITRIX in 2006, a blogger named Brian Madden wrote this post that sent shock waves through the ranks of senior management (something Brian did on a regular basis, as I recall).

Some weeks later, the company’s CEO wrote an internal memo to all employees, outlining the company’s new, official blogging policy and encouraging people to start blogging. Within a few months, several blogging platforms emerged and blogging was underway and ramping up.

The point here is that the leader’s memo and official blogging policy acted as a “safety net” for its employees to put themselves out there and a catalyst to start blogging. Prior to an official policy statement, people worried about what would happen should they accidentally blog about something considered internal, non-public information (and apparently some who had tried to blog before the official policy had received negative feedback, so everyone stopped).

Due to the official company blogging policy, transparency has improved drastically and there’s now a healthy, thriving community connecting the company, its customers and other ecosystem members known as the Citrix Community.

Bloggers who care and speak up like Brian did can and do make a huge difference, as Brian did for CITRIX back then. Brian knows where the edges are, and he’s definitely not afraid to go there. In fact, he’s built his site and a nice business on it!

So, are you taking the SAFE road or the RISKY one in your marketing for 2010? Do you have an official blogging policy and Tweeting policy? Are your employees actively blogging and Tweeting about what’s going on? Are they plugged into the conversations going on in your market? Have you encouraged them to find the edges and go there no matter what?

And is your marketing extremely remarkable, so it will get noticed, resonate and get repeated efficiently?

I hope so! It’s the only way your message is going to break through, replicate and move the needle for you in 2010 and beyond.

P.S. If you liked this post, Plz ReTweet it!!

Twitter Research Formula

Rick Braddy — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:44:33 +0000

TWITTER RESEARCH FORMULA
How to use Twitter to research a marketplace, locate buyers and connect with an audience

Spent quite a bit of time ramping up on Twitter tools and techniques recently. My goal was to learn how to use Twitter to research a market and connect with potential buyers, influencers and market participants. Using the system outlined below, in the span of one week, I was able to more than triple my followers, drastically improve the quality of information flowing both into my Twitter account and (hopefully) flowing to my followers. After 6 weeks, my followers have quadrupled and the quality of information flow has improved greatly – as has the traffic and readership of my blog and visits to my websites.

As it happens, my son is interested in getting into “level design” of video games, so I documented a process for him to follow over the weekend. This got me to thinking that perhaps this process would be of value to others, too. So here you go. Let me know if it’s of value and what else you’d suggest. Thanks! – Rick

TWITTER RESEARCH FORMULA v 0.6

Tools:

TweetAdder – Automates follows and unfollows to grow a targeted followership
Topsy.com – Twitter Tweet search engine, for finding tweets based upon keywords
Twellow.com – Twitter bio search engine, for finding people in your target area of interest
Tweetdeck.com - Twitter monitor portal
Google Keyword Tool – for researching keywords in your target marketing
WeFollow.com – Register at the user-powered Twitter directory

Twitter Research Formula:

Create Twitter account (or use your existing one); Note: each account is initially limited to 2,000 follows
Make a list of keywords in your target markets or area of research
Use Google Keyword tool to find and refine keywords (if you don’t know your audience‘s keyword namespace)
Validate keyword / topic trends using Google Trends (optional, esp, if you’re looking for a growth market)
Use Topsy.com to locate tweets in your target market using keywords
Use Twellow.com to find people in your target market by title, interests, etc.
Register your top interest tags at WeFollow.com and locate top influencers
Follow people in this market, learn the vernacular, their interests, blogs they read, sites they frequent, etc.
Read the same blogs your target audience is reading (they’ll pass links to these blogs in their tweets)
Post useful and valuable comments on the blogs (with links back to your blog/website)
Tweet the best posts for your followers to learn from and get value from
Open up deeper conversations with selected followers, sending direct messages as appropriate; schedule phone calls to discuss common interests, opportunities, etc. with interested parties; exchange contact info (email, phone, etc.)
Create interesting posts about the target market’s interest
Create your own blog around your target audience’s interests
Retweet your target audience‘s posts – be a good human “filter” and only retweet the best, most relevant
Create your own tweets that provide value to your audience
Reveal something about yourself occasionally, including links to photos or other interesting things about you
Write a free e-book and use to get yourself established with the target audience and market as an authority
Occasionally lob in a Tweet linking to your money-magnet, landing page or product page (to make some $)
Once per week, unfollow anyone who isn’t following you after 5 or more days (using Huitter.com Mutuality)
Rinse, repeat as necessary

For example, in my case, I am interested in connecting with other forward-thinking executives, business owners and leaders involved in high-tech software, technology and online marketing. My purpose is to learn as much as possible from others like me who have adventured into social media as a business tool for inbound marketing.

So, I used Twellow.com to locate people with the keywords “product marketing”, “VP marketing”, “CMO”, “CTO”, etc. in their bios. I also added everyone with “product launch” in their bio, since product launches is an area I specialize in.

I’m using TweetDeck to organize and track areas of interest. For example, I have set up an automatic Search in TweetDeck for keywords “product launch”, which automatically locates anything related to product launches taking place. Then as people post about product launches I can efficiently track it all – following as appropriate, DM as appropriate, etc.

Whenever anything of particular interest pops up, I use Topsy.com to quickly search through all relevant Tweets to learn more and ensure something important hasn’t “scrolled by” while I was away.

Finally, so there’s always targeted action on my behalf taking place to grow my Twitter followership, I have automated follows and unfollows (of those who don’t follow me for a week after I follow them) using TweetAdder. I do not use the automated DM’s, which are time-wasters and borderline spam. I recommend spending some time sending personal DM’s to those who you’re following as appropriate instead.

So that’s a quick overview of how I’m approaching market research growing my followership with the “Twitter Research Formula”. Would love to hear how this compares to your own approach, and how you would suggest this formula be evolved and improved.

Happy Twittering!

Rick

P.S. If you liked this post, plz ReTweet it!

How to use Twitter to find Influencials

Rick Braddy — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:28:23 +0000

Ever wish you could quickly locate people with similar interests as you, prospective clients or experts on a given topic on Twitter?

Here’s a great post on how to quickly locate influencers using Twitter

Merry Christmas!

The New Rules of Launch

Rick Braddy — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:23:41 +0000

The New Rules of Launch

How to launch a product, company or
anything else via the Internet in 2010

FREE E-BOOK DOWNLOAD

The Internet and Web have changed the rules for how we launch anything new, including products, websites, and companies – even political campaigns – using social media like Twitter and Facebook to create purpose-built launch communities and make more sales.

The Web and the ubiquitous global communications it enables now interconnect over 1 billion people for the first time in human history. Practitioners who learned based on the old rules have been slow to change and adopt new methods, such as social media.

I hope this e-book will enable everyone who wants to leverage social media and the Web for launch of – a company, product, service, website, political campaign, or anything else – to grasp how to leverage the immense power of the Internet and social media networking to do so.

While I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers, the path and way major launches will reach the masses is clear – through social media and online networks. I think this e-book provides some food for thought that will be helpful and worthwhile.

Download and Read the New Rules of Launch

But be prepared to alter the way you think about launches…

Download the New Rules of Launch here.

Merry Christmas 2009!! And here’s to a Happy New Year and lots of great launches in 2010!

Rick

P.S. Please feel free to post copies of this free e-book document on your blog, website or email it to anyone you believe would benefit from it. This e-book is licensed under the Creative Commons License, as indicated below.

P.P.S. Please come back here and share your comments on the e-book whenever you can so I can improve it…

Inside the New Rules of Launch

How to launch a product, company or
anything else via the Internet

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The New Rules of Launch. 4

How to launch a product, company or anything else via the Internet 4

The old rules of launch. 5

The New Rules of Launch. 6

Why You Need to Learn the New Rules. 7

Today, savvy marketers use online networking to reach and influence buyers directly. 7

Psychology of Social Product Launches. 7

Reaching Mainstream Buyers and Markets Faster. 11

Targeted Buyer Language vs. Generic Product Language. 14

The 3C’s of Launch. 16

It’s the Network, Stupid! 17

Obama Presidency Launch Campaign. 18

The Power of Grassroots Movements in Launch Campaigns. 19

Network Influence is the Launch. 21

Nobody Cares About Your Product 24

Tuning In to What Customers Want 26

Big Idea = Big Launch. 28

New Rules of Attention. 35

The Magnetic Force of Free. 38

Buzz = Word of Mouth Storytelling Gone Wild. 41

The Launch Community. 43

Launch Partnering in Powers of 10. 44

Introducing Launch 3.0. 46

Launch 3.0 Process. 49

Canvassing – Building the Launch List and Community. 53

The Launch 3.0 Sales Process. 58

LICENSE DETAILS:

New Rules of Launch by Rick Braddy / ConXentric is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.winningware.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.winningware.com/contact.php

Product Launch and Business Growth Blog » social media

Social Media Marketing Experts Reveal Secrets for Generating a Steady Stream of Sales & Leads

Related posts

Social Media for Business Is CRAP. Really?

So, what do you think? Is Social Media for Business Really Crap?

Related posts

Why Safety is Risky Business in 2010

Safety is the Riskiest Marketing Strategy in 2010

Related posts

Twitter Research Formula

TWITTER RESEARCH FORMULA
How to use Twitter to research a marketplace, locate buyers and connect with an audience

Related posts

How to use Twitter to find Influencials

Related posts

The New Rules of Launch

The New Rules of Launch

How to launch a product, company or
anything else via the Internet in 2010

Inside the New Rules of Launch

How to launch a product, company or
anything else via the Internet

Related posts

Product Launch and Business Growth Blog » social media

Social Media Marketing Experts Reveal Secrets for Generating a Steady Stream of Sales & Leads

Related posts

Social Media for Business Is CRAP. Really?

So, what do you think? Is Social Media for Business Really Crap?

Related posts

Why Safety is Risky Business in 2010

Safety is the Riskiest Marketing Strategy in 2010

Related posts

Twitter Research Formula

TWITTER RESEARCH FORMULA How to use Twitter to research a marketplace, locate buyers and connect with an audience

Related posts

How to use Twitter to find Influencials

Related posts

The New Rules of Launch

The New Rules of Launch

How to launch a product, company or anything else via the Internet in 2010

Inside the New Rules of Launch

How to launch a product, company or anything else via the Internet

Related posts

TWITTER RESEARCH FORMULA
How to use Twitter to research a marketplace, locate buyers and connect with an audience

How to launch a product, company or
anything else via the Internet in 2010

How to launch a product, company or
anything else via the Internet